Social Reading Gains Major Traction Among Millennials

TORONTO, CANADA–(Marketwired – Jan. 6, 2014) – Today, Wattpad, the world’s largest community of readers and writers, announced that the company more than doubled engagement from 2012 to 2013. In a release of 2013 data, the company notes that the community spent more than 41 billion minutes on the platform, with users under 25 accounting for the majority of time spent on Wattpad.

In 2013 teens and young adults searched for new social channels to provide them with anonymity without sacrificing their personal connections with others. While use on other social networks that require real identity has plateaued, Wattpad continues to see year-over-year growth among 13-25 year olds. On Wattpad, this generation does more than merely consume content, they participate in the creation, remixing and sharing of stories.

Last year, more than 53 million connections were made on Wattpad and these connections sparked over 300 million messages, comments and votes. The Wattpad community spent 87 million minutes each day reading and sharing stories from their phones and tablets last year. Readers also created more than 4.4 million story covers and YouTube trailers to support their favorite stories and writers on Wattpad.

“We’ve redefined what it means to be a reader by empowering a new generation to read, create and shape the stories that matter to them, all from their mobile devices,” said Allen Lau, Wattpad Co-Founder and CEO. “We’ve seen major growth in 2013 thanks to the incredibly active Wattpad community. We expect an even bigger year ahead, and ultimately, a future where millions of original stories are created every day.”

2013: Wattpad by the numbers:

Stories are mobile

• 85 percent of time spent on Wattpad is via a phone or tablet
• Half of the writers on Wattpad have written a story from a phone or tablet

Stories are social

• 53 million connections were made on Wattpad, sparking 300+ million messages, comments and votes
• Someone from every single country in the world has shared a story on Wattpad, and people can read stories in more than 30 languages

Stories are remixed

• More than 7.5 million Fan Fiction stories shared in 2013
• More than 91,000 new stories shared on Wattpad every day

Stories are trending

• Racking up 19 million reads of her Wattpad story The Kissing Booth, Beth Reekles is named one of TIME’s Most Influential Teens of 2013
• After sharing Nothing Left to Lose on Wattpad, Kirsty Moseley gains 148,000 followers on Wattpad and is named Breakout Author on iBooks for 2013

Stories are entertainment

• People spend an average of 30 minutes on Wattpad per session, with 41 billion total minutes spent on Wattpad in 2013
• Writers added 20 million new story uploads in 2013

To view the full recap of storytelling around the world on Wattpad in 2013, go to http://2013.wattpad.com.

About Wattpad

Wattpad is a community for people who love to read, write and be entertained. Available in more than 30 languages, Wattpad gives people around the world the ability to read millions of stories for free or write and share their own from any phone, tablet or computer. People use Wattpad to connect with each other, escape into stories and express themselves creatively. Every month, 20 million people spend 4.5 billion minutes immersed in free books and stories. www.wattpad.com